


turn again and turn towards

by evewithanapple



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: Community: helpbrazil2011, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-08
Updated: 2011-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-15 12:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/160868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evewithanapple/pseuds/evewithanapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I think we should get married."</p>
            </blockquote>





	turn again and turn towards

**Author's Note:**

> Written for nemesister for the helpbrazil2011 auction.

The first time he says “I think we should get married,” she laughs good-naturedly and points to the wedding band that still sits on her finger. She hasn’t seen her husband for months- doesn’t really think of him as a husband now, really- but the ring is still there, and the marriage certificate is still filed away at the county clerk’s office. It puts him off for a while, at least.

* * * *

  
The second time he asks, it’s as they’re lying in bed after making love. It’s nicer now, they can relax- she doesn’t need to push him off the door and drag the sheets to the washing machine in anticipation of Leo’s return. She’s laying lazy kisses down his chest when he reaches over to his jacket, which he slung over the nightstand, and pulls a little box out of the pocket. “Shelly, I want you to have this.”

Her face lights up. “What is it?”

“Open it and see.”

She flips the top open. There’s a ring nestled inside- a silver band with little blue jewel perched on top. She looks at him, startled, and he smiles sheepishly. “I know we can’t get married, cause of Leo and all, but I thought you could wear my ring anyway.”

Her heart is pounding, but she manages a shaky smile for him. It’s not his fault; he can’t very well see inside her head, and he’s trying so hard. He looks at her hopefully. “Are you going to try it on?”

There’s nothing for it. Gingerly- she hopes he’ll mistake it for savouring the moment- she slides it onto the ring finger of her right hand, and holds her hand out to examine it. It sparkles in the light from the bedside lamp. Bobby looks like he’s bursting with pride. “Do you like it?”

  
“Yeah.” Her heart is still racing, but it seems to have subsided a bit. “It’s really pretty Bobby, thanks.”

* * * *

  
Later that night, once he’s gone, she sits on the edge of the bed and examines both the rings on her hands. The one she got when she married Leo is a plain gold band, tarnished and worn with the past two years of housekeeping. He’s given it to her before she dropped out of school, and she’d thought it was the most romantic thing in the world. It didn’t take long for it to start weighing heavy on her finger.

The one Bobby just gave her was is new enough to sparkle- it's not a real jewel obviously, he doesn’t have the money for that, but it doesn’t look cheap either. She’d told him a while ago that her birthstone was a sapphire; he must have remembered. She hadn’t expected him to.

The gold ring feels tighter than it had when she’d first put it on, like it was cutting off the blood flow to the tip of her finger. With a shudder, she drops it in the drawer and slams it shut. The other ring, she slides back onto her right finger. The gold band is no longer there, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready for another to take its place.

 

* * * *

  
She asks Norma about it one day at the diner. “If you could marry Ed, would you?”

Norma smiles at her- that smile that’s warm, but also unsettling, because it looks as though she can see exactly what she’s thinking. “In a heartbeat.”

Shelly considers. “Hank didn’t put you off at all?”

Now she’s sure Norma knows what she’s really asking. The older woman puts an arm around her shoulder. “They’re not all the same, you know.”

She’ll have to think about that.

  
* * * *

  


She begins to wear Bobby’s ring on her left hand two weeks and three days after Sheriff Truman tells her that they found Leo dead in the woods. Exposure, he said- they’d had a late frost. Her hand shakes the first few days she wears it, but Bobby’s smile when he sees her makes her heart lift, and she thinks maybe it’s all going to be okay.

It’s not a proper marriage- not really, anyway. They don’t have a minister or a Bible or any of that. It’s the night before he leaves for college, and they promise each other to stay together no matter what. Afterwards, they go to bed, and she leaves the ring on as they make love, the tiny blue gleam shining improbably after they turn the lights out. She makes him breakfast the next morning, and for a moment something in her trembles, remembering the first morning with Leo. But he looks up from the bacon she made and says “Hey Shelly, think you could come with me? I can’t cook this good.” and she smiles at him without reservations.

They’re going to be just fine.


End file.
